My invention relates to racks for supporting particularly neckties or belts and especially in a clothes closet and preferably hung on a clothes support rod of such closet.
For some time, I have been conscious of the need for better storage of particularly neckties in clothes closets. My practice, which probably has been common to others, has been to drape the neckties over the lower horizontal bars of standard clothes hangers. This has involved several hangers with the lower horizontal bars covered in a series of layers by neckties. The result has been difficulty in viewing the neckties either to find a necktie I had in mind or to view the assortment of ties I might select from that would be of appropriate color, etc., to the other garments I was going to wear. Lighting conditions for viewing ties may be poor because of limited closet lighting, because of an overhanging shelf, and because of interference by adjacent clothing. Selection of a necktie may be made from among several dozen ties or more. Another objection to using clothes hangers for ties is the tendency when removing one necktie for one or more other ties to be pulled off the same clothes hanger and to fall on the closet floor. One objective of my invention is to devise a rack for particularly neckties that solves the problem of designing better necktie storage in especially clothes closets. A similar problem exists with belts and possibly some other apparel and it is a further objective to provide improved storage also for those items.
In thinking about the problem, I have been conscious of the difficulty of displaying several dozen ties, more or less, in the small space of a clothes closet that commonly (in the space devoted to a man's clothing) is scarcely adequate to house whirts, trousers, jackets, and suits on a clothes support rod. Not only in the space that can be devoted to ties unduly limited but also the number of objects to be displayed is quite large. A man who wears various ties as part of his work dress is likely to have at least several dozen ties and even a many who only wears ties occasionally for dress occasions may have accumulated a sizable number of ties as a result of gifts as well as purchases over the years. The need is to suitably display two, three or more dozens of neckties on a short length of clothes support rod space and it is an another objective of mu invention to meet that need.
As will be understood from the drawings and the following description, my solution to the problem of necktie storage is to support the neckties in rows, draped over arms that are parallel to the clothes support rod, the arms being at a different level for each tie in the row, the arms being disposed in a row in an oblique plane sloping downwardly as it extends toward the front of the closet, so that all ties can be viewed from the front of the closet, the rows being separated horizontally enough so that neckties in adjacent rows will not unduly interfere with each other. It is a further objective to device a rack to support and display neckties as above described.
Particularly women frequently have a similar problem in storing and displaying belts in a clothes closet and it is another objective to provide a rack that alternatively can be used to support belts particularly by engaging the arms described above with belt buckles.
In designing the rack, I was conscious of the need to provide a rack that can be manufactured and sold at a price the users would find suitable. I also knew that some buyers would want a more attractive unit although a more expensive unit, such as one displaying some handsome wood. I have conceived of wood-metal, wire, metal and plastic designs and it is an objective of my invention to provide racks at different costs and differing in design enhancements that may involve additional costs. A general objective is to minimize costs, to provide good appearance, and to maximize utility in my necktie and belt rack designs.
My invention will be best understood, together with additional advantages and objectives thereof, when read with reference to the drawings.